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For Small Oil Firm, Big Money in Saving Old Platforms

By

Daniel Gilbert

Updated March 29, 2013 8:10 p.m. ET

In 2011, a new charity started a campaign to save old oil-and-gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that it said had become an underwater Eden for aquatic life, supporting communities of coral, algae and fish.

These platforms also have the potential to leak petroleum, especially in hurricanes, which is one reason the federal government in 2010 tightened regulations that force energy companies to remove disused platforms.